Something About Juan Luna's "SPOLIARIUM"

SPOLIARIUM- Juan Luna 

The Latin word "Spoliarium" refers to a holding area in the Roman Colosseum where the corpses of fallen gladiators were brought. If a gladiator met his death in the arena, a ceremony would be started in which a man dressed like Charon would claim the body. The gladiator's weapons, like his "gladius" (meaning sword, thus we get the word gladiator), would be gathered or collected. A group of Roman slaves or workers would then come in to collect the corpse. They would drag the body from the sandy arena using chains and a big hook attached to the carcass. Still, if it was a legendary gladiator, they would carry him on a stretcher, entering through a gate appropriately called the "PORTA LIBITINARIA" (or the entrance of Libitina). Libitina is an ancient Roman goddess of funerals and burial. These people who took care of the corpses or the undertakers were collectively known as "libitinarii." Today, we can liken them to the "Ahente ng Punerarya."
The gate of Libitina is actually a passage leading to the "Spoliarium." One German history professor called it the "Totenkammer," the chamber of the dead. Once inside the Spoliarium, the body of the dead gladiator would be stripped of whatever armor or protection he still had and prepared for burial. If it was a legendary gladiator who fell, people would often gather in the place hoping to collect or have a dip of his blood, which they believed held extraordinary power. If it was a gladiator with no name, then he really died a lonely death, for in the Spoliarium, he would be treated worse than the dead animals that perished in the Roman games (wild animals that passed in the arena were usually butchered and sold as exotic meat in Roman markets).
Many say that Luna's Spoliarium was an allegory of 19th-century Philippine society. Looking at the painting brings horrors to the eyes of an uncomplicated observer. But it's also a record of history. It shows the brutality and indifference of the human race. Juan Luna's Spoliarium is universal.


Juan Luna



Roman gladiatorial games. Zilten mosaic (present-day Libya) 100 BC to 80 BC





19th-century illustration of a scene in gladiatorial games. The "Porta Libitinaria" or "Porta Libitinensis" is a common feature in  Roman amphitheaters. In Roman provinces, amphitheaters were built with this gate named after the Roman goddess of funeral and burial. These gates were connected to a Spoliarium.



"Libintinarii"-  Were Roman workers and undertakers tasked to retrieve the body of dead gladiators and bring them to the Spoliarium to prepare it for burial.




The gates of Libintina in the Colosseum, Rome




The passage leading to the Spoliarium

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